Chapter 1 - Where I Came From

Posted by Gerry Kelly on September 30, 2014

I grew up in a suburb in Dublin called Templeogue. Our family is your typical Irish family. My mum's from the country and my dad's from Dublin. I have two sisters who I get on with very well, and who have great families. When we were growing up, my mum worked as a nurse and my dad worked two jobs: one as a taxi driver and one as a school teacher in a prison. My dad also studied law at the same time, and when he passed his exams, he became a full time lawyer. He told me that he found it very sad that he would meet lots of young guys in the prison who wouldn't have been there if they had proper representation. That inspired him to study law and become a lawyer.

Some nights when we were very young and my mum was working the night shift in the hospital, my dad would drive my two sisters and I around in the passenger seat of his taxi while collecting fares. To say the least, my dad's the hardest working man that I have ever met and the only person that I have ever met that never got sick. I must say that I think my parents had a huge role in shaping my personality to know I could do whatever I wanted. They were living examples of being hard working, do it yourself, make-what-you-want type of people. Without their example, I wouldn't have the underlying belief in myself that I have today.To get back to my youth, I had a thing for jeans and my mum would tell me that I always had great fashion sense. When we went shopping together when I was a kid, I always picked my own clothing and was complimented by the sales assistants on my picks. Growing up in the 80's in Dublin, Levis 501's were huge. In fact they were so big that sometimes people would steal the jeans off your washing line, seriously.I had a great childhood and still have lots of amazing friends with whom I went to school and grew up with. I must admit I never liked school, I always seemed to get in trouble for day dreaming and having too much fun. Crazy when you think about it.My first job was a milk round when I was 14 with my friend Keith. We collected the milk money every Thursday and Friday for years and also stole Xmas trees and sold them outside our local church at Xmas time. My teenage years were spent 1) drinking cheap vodka, cider and beer, 2) going to local disco's, 3) terrorizing our neighborhood, 4) dreaming about travelling the world.